User blog:RayBanjo/(editorial 1) Can video games teach life lessons?
Hey, fellow Epic Mickey Wiki editors! Here's my first editorial! *Spoilers!* Can video games teach life lessons? In my opinion, they totally can. Even ones that you least expect. Ever since I played games such as Epic Mickey, Naughty Bear, and Left 4 Dead, I started noticing that almost any kind of video game can teach some kind of lesson to someone, intentionally or not. I know what you're all thinking: RayBanjo, how can games like Naughty Bear and Left 4 Dead teach life lessons? Well, here's how. For starters, let's look at Naughty Bear, a hilarious game about a teddy bear who becomes hellbent on getting revenge on other teddy bears after getting bullied. Sure, it has some flaws, but I still consider it to be a fantastic game. Why? Because of the huge lore hidden behind it and some developer interviews. In some interviews, they said that the other bears were the ones who caused all of it, if that wasn't obvious enough. However, by noticing very small details in both games, it turns out that the bears just hate Naughty because he's different to the point of harming him. I feel that this can teach people that sometimes with games, movies, or anything in life, maybe not is all what it seems, and that we should try our best to be nice to those who are different. Next, let's talk about the popular Valve game Left 4 Dead. I played it expecting just a simple zombie romp. Mind you, this was my first Valve game, so I had no idea how good the developers are. I was blown away by the AI and replay value. But there's three big aspects I think people can learn from, just by watching the characters and playing the game. Teamwork, trust, and friendship. The survivors have to trust each other to survive, they have to work together as a team, and they form an unlikely friendship. All of these things also mold into the gameplay perfectly, as you must use these things to win the game. The same thing can be said for Garden Warfare. It's honestly kinda heartwarming seeing all the kids that play the game work together. The plants have to work together to fight the zombies, and vice versa. Plus, there's something so badass about how Garden Warfare uses teamwork in a big way. Epic Mickey is the game that started my way of looking deeper into games. The game teaches alot of things. Tragedy, bravery, choice, trust, redemption, and teamwork. It made a character that has been taken for granted for years, and turned him into a hero. It also took forgotten characters who truly matter, and made them matter again. All from a story of redemption and choice. That's why the game is called Epic Mickey, of course. Because it's an epic, which means a story where the world and setting change from the protagonist's decisions. People possibly could learn from that statement about the game alone. I hope you all enjoyed my first editorial! This is a topic I've wanted to discuss for a while. I can do it better than what I did now, but my mind doesn't work too well in the morning. Maybe I'll discuss more games with lessons like this in the future. Thanks for reading! Category:Blog posts